Episodes

On this week’s podcast, Mark Ontiveros joins us from Tustin, California, where he is founder and CEO of Audio Images, the award-winning Orange County custom integration firm that he founded in 1991. Audio Images’s team is passionate about engineering audio/visual solutions that truly fit their clients’ needs. It’s a process that Mark’s company has trademarked as “Solutioneering” a system. It’s the first step to ensuring that Audio Images delivers a sensory experience that will inspire their clie...

On this week’s podcast, Troy Morgan joins us from North Richland Hills, TX, where he is founder and CEO of PanTech Design, a software development firm specializing in Crestron control systems for commercial and residential applications. Troy has 23 years of programming experience and has earned the distinction of Crestron Master Programmer. He founded PanTech Design in 2005 with the goal of elevating the quality of software and service for audio, video, and environmental automation. Under Troy’s...

On this week’s podcast, Blake Richetta joins us from Santa Monica, CA, where he is chairman and CEO of sonnen, the global energy storage company. Sonnen was founded in 2010, in a small town in Southern Germany, its founders driven by the desire to create a clean and affordable energy future for everyone through their sonnenBatterie. At a time when solar energy was only fed into the grid, they created a system that allows households to store and consume their self-generated energy, day and night....

On this week’s podcast, Keith Esterly joins us from his home office in Bucks County, PA, where he serves as chief learning architect for the Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA), a leading North American trade consortium. Keith has a unique role within HTSA in that he was brought on board to help members learn fresh ideas, but specifically become better at selling and relationship science. It’s a craft that Keith honed during many years at AV giant Tweeter and then during his nine years...

This week, our contributing editor Michael Heiss joins us from his home in Los Angeles to talk about the recent Consumer Electronics Show, and some of the latest TV technology developments and other smart home products that he thinks are worth knowing about. After attending CES virtually last year, Mike made it back in person to Las Vegas this year. He talks about broader TV technology trends, breaking it down brand by brand, as well as sharing observations about some the gadgets and goofiness t...

This week, Nilo Casimiron Ericsson joins us from Uppsala, Sweden, where he is a co-founder and product manager for Dirac Research. Dirac is the developer of the Dirac Live room correction system that is used by the world’s leading AV receiver and sound processor brands to correct frequency and phase distortion caused by loudspeakers and room acoustics. Around the time that this podcast is dropping, Dirac will be at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, officially unveiling Dirac Live...

This week, Scott Sullivan joins us from Novato, California, where he is president of SoundVision, the highly respected Bay Area custom integration firm that he founded back in 1998. Scott and Jeremy have crossed paths many times over the past 20 years when first he was a passionate attendee of the CEDIA Management Conference and in more recent years, a vocal participant in HTSA buying group meetings. Yet, until now, they had never really sat down and chatted about Scott’s career path, approach t...

This week, Daryl Friedman joins us from CEDIA headquarters in Fishers, IN, where he is wrapping up his first year as the association’s global president and CEO. On the day of this recording, Daryl, along members of the CEDIA board of directors and staff, hosted the association’s Annual Membership Meeting. The virtual event offered updates on CEDIA’s progress in 2022, the financial status of the organization, and goals for next year. Today, we dive into some of those same topics, find out more ab...

This week, Dennis Lister joins us from Philadelphia, PA, where he is president of DEL Motorized Solutions. His career began in the early 90s working in his father’s custom furniture upholstery business. In 1996, that company morphed into his current motorized blinds and automated shades custom fabrication and wholesale company. Today, he is Lutron’s top-selling shades dealer in the world. He was recently invited by Lutron president Ed Blair to serve as the featured speaker during a groundbreakin...

This week Paul Williams joins us from Salt Lake City, UT, where he is chief product officer for Nice North America, the global manufacturer of smart home, security, and building automation solutions. Nice, which was founded in Italy by current owner Lauro Buoro in 1993, acquired Nortek Security & Control from Melrose Industries back in October of 20 21. In September of this year, the company announced that it would be sunsetting Nortek Control as a company name and absorbing several of its custo...

This week, Eric Harper joins us from Charlotte, NC, where he is senior vice president at Snap One, the provider of smart living products, services, and software to professional integrators. Like many on the manufacturing side of this business, Eric started his career as a custom integrator. But his switch from CI to manufacturer, back in 2001, was especially notable in that he helped launch Onkyo’s high-end Integra and Integra Research audio brands into the specialty retail and CI channels. Prio...

This week, Chris Lehnen returns to the podcast from his home in Portland, OR, after his fairly recent hiring as business development manager, AV, for lighting manufacturer Luminii. Chris last joined us about a year ago during his time at iRoom IO, the Apple-certified manufacturer of Premium iPad Docking Solutions. On this episode, we’ll talk about what it was like taking a new role in a completely different technology category, get his take on the exciting opportunities in architectural LED ligh...

On this week’s podcast, Keith Cottrell joins us from New York City, where he is vice president of operations at Electronic Environments New York. Keith and Jeremy have known each other since the early 2000s when Keith was working as director of operations for Jeff Hoover at Audio Advisors in West Palm Beach, FL. Keith was pivotal in the development of CEDIA University’s Project Management Track and has worked on the commercial integration side of the business and for a security software company....

On this week’s podcast, two guests join us from Legrand AV to discuss products recently released by their company during a six-city residential roadshow and recently at CEDIA Expo 2022 in Dallas. Charlie Derk (based in Easton, PA) is general manager for Legrand Shading Systems and Vantage lighting control and Alex Weaver (based in Dallas, TX) is VP of residential CI for Legrand’s Chief, Da-Lite, Luxul, Middle Atlantic, On-Q, and Sanus brands. Jeremy was fortunate to receive a personal tour of Le...

On this week’s podcast, Daniel Craig joins us from San Diego, where he is owner of Absolute AV Design. Jeremy met Daniel (the integrator, not the actor), very recently while in Southern California touring the headquarters of Nice North America. During that manufacturer visit, those in attendance were also treated to a tour of a beautiful private home on San Diego’s Coronado Island and a luxury high-rise condominium building called Pacific Gate. Both the private home and nearly all of the 215 con...

This week, Bill Skaer returns to the podcast from his home in Dallas, TX, where he is CEO of Bill Skaer Home Theater and Technology. Bill is one of the pioneers of the custom integration industry, and he currently serves on the CEDIA trade association’s global board of directors. Bill’s dedication to the industry has earned him both a CEDIA Fellow and CEDIA Lifetime Achievement Award, and he’s one of Jeremy’s favorite people in the business. We’ve asked Bill back on the podcast at a very importa...

Gordon Isaac joins us from Las Vegas, Nevada, where is chief marketing and strategy officer for Origin Acoustics. Gordon is the third person from his current employer to be interviewed for the podcast, but this is Gordon’s first appearance. Over the years, as he moved from Core Brands to AVAD to ProSource, Gordon and Jeremy connected quite a bit and Gordon wrote several really great articles for the magazine. The last thing he wrote for RTT was about the outdoor audio and lighting system that he...

On this week’s podcast, Clint Childress joins us from Spiceland, IN, where he was recently appointed to the newly created role of director of residential markets for Draper, the manufacturer of commercial shades, projection screens, AV lifts, and AV mounts and structures. Clint joined Draper in 2000 and has served as a window shade product specialist and green buildings coordinator. A certified LEED AP, he was most recently solar control solutions manager, where his task was to design solutions ...

On this week’s podcast, Jim Garrett joins us from Los Angeles, CA, where he is senior director of product strategy and planning for Harman Luxury Audio Group, the home of five prestigious brands — JBL Synthesis, Mark Levinson, Revel, Lexicon, and Arcam. It’s almost time for CEDIA Expo time in Dallas, where Harman Luxury Audio Group typically makes quite a splash. Many of their brand announcements are already public, but it still seemed like a great time to check in with Jim and learn more about ...

On this week’s podcast, John Sciacca joins us from Myrtle Beach, SC, where he co-owner of Custom Theater and Audio. John is a very good friend and one of the most entertaining writers in the AV integration trade press. Looking back on when we last had John on the podcast, Jeremy was stunned to realize that it was almost exactly one year ago to the day that we are recording this. During that chat, more than 50 episodes ago, Jeremy not only celebrated John’s entry into the second-time guest club, ...

On this week’s podcast, Lee Travis joins us from Bellevue, WA, where he is owner of Wipliance, one of the nation’s top custom integration companies. Since 2006, Wipliance has been creating easy-to-use and enjoyable smart spaces in Washington, Arizona, and surrounding areas. This past July, the company acquired Huppin’s, a 114-year-old family-owned residential and commercial technology solutions provider covering Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Travis shares insights into his company, his car...

On this week’s podcast, Matt Bernath joins us from Anaheim Hills, CA, where he is owner and president of VITAL, the custom integration-centric business coaching and software company. Founded by industry veterans Paul Starkey and Steven Firzst, VITAL collaborates and guides CI business owners by using business metrics, benchmarking, best practice sharing, and business coaching to grow profitably. Although VITAL has coached more than 300 companies, it is perhaps best known for pulling together a c...

On this week’s podcast, Amit Ravat joins us from the UK, where is co-founder and director of Lithe Audio, an audio products manufacturer specializing in wireless audio technologies for the residential and hospitality sectors. Lithe has developed an expertise in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, integrating those two technologies into a range of in-ceiling, surface-mounted, and outdoor speakers, using an “all-in-one” design philosophy. While wireless speakers, generally speaking, are not all that unique anymo...

On this week’s podcast, Becca Tobin joins us to talk about her acting career and recent experience adding smart home tech to her Austin, TX, residence. Tobin has starred in the hit TV show Glee, written a New York Times bestseller, and hosted the popular LadyGang podcast. When the talented actress and influencer and her husband, real estate developer Zach Martin, moved from Los Angeles to Austin, TX, in late 2020, their excitement for the new city and house quickly grew into a desire to maximize...